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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: scale · wave · patient · clip · degree · mine · cold · swing

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. swing — in golf
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cold — not warm
  9. scale — size or range
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. swing — to play on
  13. clip — for paper
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. clip — to cut
  16. degree — temperature
  17. degree — from a university
  18. clip — a video
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. scale — in music
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. swing — music

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com